Introduction

Subtle attack

• Paul's attack is subtle
• Different from Galatians
• Chapter 2 is his attack

Different problem

• Gentile sins were obvious, blatant
  • idolatry
  • immorality
  • sexual perversion
• Jewish sins less obvious, more devious
  • justified as acts of righteousness
  • Cf. Jesus and the Jewish authorities
  • they were unconvinced

The Sinfulness of People

• All people are sinners (Rom 1:18)
• They reject God's revelation
  • eternal power
  • divine nature
• They should honour God and give thanks
• God gives them over to their sin
  • immorality (1:24-25)
  • sexual perversion (1:26-27)
  • depraved mind and improper conduct (1:28-32)
  • corrupt in their minds and morals
  • they persist in sin
  • they encourage others to do likewise (1:32)

The Problem of Self-Righteousness

• blind to their own sin, a universal problem
• same sins are committed by the Jews
• mistakenly agree that Paul was in agreement with them
• Sinners are worthy of divine wrath and retribution
• "Amen!" Let the Gentiles be condemned

Indictment comes a full circle

• Jews condemn the Gentiles but practice the same sins
• The Jews will be judged by Gentiles who have kept God's Law
• Shown guilty by judging and teaching others

Importance of the Text

Chapter Two

• the sinfulness of the Jews
• Validates "all have sinned" (3:23)
• Gentiles demonstrate by rejecting God's self-revelation
• Jews reject an even greater revelation of God
  • in nature
  • through the Law
  • through the Gospel (2:16,17-20)
• All need God's righteousness in Christ

The Jewish Sin

• Paul too was a self-righteous Jew (Phil 3)
• Judaisers constantly worked to impose their errors on the churches
  • Acts 15
  • Galatians
  • Philippians 3:2ff
  • Colossians 2:16ff
  • 1 Timothy 1:3-7
  • Titus 1:10-16

Judaizers

God's Judgment on Those Who Judge (2:1-16)

Text

Romans 2:1-10

Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things. 2 Now we know that God's judgment is in accordance with truth against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God's judgment? 4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God's kindness leads you to repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment is revealed! 

Text

Romans 2:11-16

 

11 For there is no partiality with God. 12 For all who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. 14 For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things required by the law, these who do not have the law are a law to themselves. 15 They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend them, 16 on the day when God will judge the secrets of human hearts, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.

Structure

• 1-2: Jewish judges judged for hypocrisy
• 3-4: God the Judge, and His coming judgment
• 5-10: Human deeds, the basis for divine judgment
• 11-16: Impartiality, the distinctive of divine judgment

Indictment for All

• Not by class (Jews or Gentile)
• By conduct
• Jews felt smugly superior
• Now self-condemned
• Mathew 7:1-2

 

"Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive."

How were the Jews guilty?

• Undeniably guilty
  • Exodus 32
  • Numbers 25
  • Psalm 62:1-12
  • Isaiah 1:21-23
  • Isaiah 10:1-3
  • Jeremiah 7:8-11
  • Ezekiel 22:8-13,24-29
  • Hosea 4:1-2, 6:8-11
  • Micah 3:8-12

Guilty of Hypocrisy, Murder, Self-Indulgence, Lawlessness

• Jesus warns the Pharisees
  • Matthew 23
• Paul warns the Church in Rome
  • Romans 3:10-18

 

"There is no one righteous, not even one, 11 there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not even one." 13 "Their throats are open graves, they deceive with their tongues, the poison of asps is under their lips." 14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." 15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood, 16 ruin and misery are in their paths, 17 and the way of peace they have not known." 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Mistakes of the Jewish Christians

• God would judge Gentiles for their sins but not them for the same sins (3)
• They disregard God's kindness, failing to see it as grace, calling them to repentance (4)

Basis for Divine Judgment

• Human deeds are the result of what is in their hearts (5,8)
• God's judgment will be according to their deeds (6)
• This includes both Jews and Gentiles (9-10)
• This is both for blessing and for punishment (7-10)

Problem here

• Self-righteous have judged the "heathen" on the basis of their works
• Therefore God judges the "righteous" on their works, and they fail
• The self-righteous fail to live up to the standard that they require of others
• Foolish to see that they themselves are sinners
• They have double-standards

God is impartial

• the self-righteous were banking on God judging them with a different standard
• God's standards (5-10)
• God is impartial (11-16)
• Not based on who they are
• Not possession of God's standards that makes us holy
• But living in obedience to them
• They are condemned for rejecting the revelation of God that they have received

Impartiality to the Jews

• those who possess the Law are judged in terms of their obedience
• others are judged by the subjective standard of the Law
• Only God knows the hearts of the Gentiles
• Jews judge the Gentiles by their Law, but not themselves

God's Judgment on Those Who Teach (2:17-29)

Romans 2:17-24

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relationship to God 18 and know his will and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, 19 and if you are convinced that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth- 21 therefore you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 24 For just as it is written, "the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

The Law and the Proud Jew

• The Law was a badge of piety
• Believed that they were superior to others
• Boasted in this privileged relationship with God
• Assurance of His protection and blessing (18)
• Inside track on knowing God's will, plans and purposes
• Capable of leading the blind "in the dark" (19)
• Possession of the Law put them above all others

Paul was unimpressed

• Issue was not the virtue of the Law as taught
• But as practiced by the Jew
• Possessing or teaching did not make one righteous
• Keeping the Law was important

Bad Publicity of the Jews

OT References

• Disobedience brought dishonour to God and blasphemy (2:5,24)
• Isaiah 52:5

"And now, what do we have here?" says the Lord. "Indeed my people have been carried away for nothing, those who rule over them taunt," says the Lord, "and my name is constantly slandered all day long."

• Ezekiel 36:20-21

But when they arrived in the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name. It was said of them, 'These are the people of the Lord, yet they have departed from his land.' 21 I was concerned for my holy reputation which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they went.

Rejected God's Final Revelation

• Jesus Christ the "Living Word," "Incarnate Word"
• They put him to death
  • John 1:1-18
  • Hebrews 1:1-3
  • 1 John 1:1-3
• Like in the OT, again thrust out of the land

Romans 2:25-29

25 For circumcision has its value if you practice the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 The physically uncircumcised man, by keeping the law, will judge you to be the transgressor of the law, even though you have the letter and circumcision! 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit and not by the letter. This person's praise is not from people but from God.

Circumcision and the True Jew

• sign of the Abrahamic covenant
  • Genesis 17:9-14
  • Exodus 4:24-26
  • Exodus 12:44,48
  • Leviticus 12:3
• sign of distinction and pride
• Not enough to possess, profess and proclaim, but practice
• Disobedience nullified the value of circumcision
• Instead the lack of circumcision was no detriment if one were to live in accordance with the Law
• the Law-keeper was as good as circumcised
• Inner "circumcision" only counts
• done by the Holy Spirit

Circumcision Spoken in the OT

• Deuteronomy 10:16

"Therefore, cleanse your heart and stop being so stubborn!"

• Deuteronomy 30:6

"The Lord your God will also cleanse your heart and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your mind and being and so that you may live."

• Jeremiah 4:4

"Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment, you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me, people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. If you do not, my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against you that no one will be able to extinguish. That will happen because of the evil you have done."

Circumcision Spoken in the OT

Jeremiah 31:31-34

"Indeed, a time is coming," says the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them," says the Lord. 33 "But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land," says the Lord. "I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people."

34 "People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me," says the Lord. "For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done."

Circumcision Spoken in the OT

Ezekiel 36:24-27

I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land. 25 I will sprinkle you with pure water and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my Spirit within you; I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes and carefully observe my regulations.

Circumcision of the Heart

Conclusion

Where did God's people go wrong?

• Given so many privileges and blessings

Some problems

• Hypocrisy and external appearances
• Holiness
  • Lev 11:44

for I am the Lord your God and you are to sanctify yourselves and be holy because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any of the swarming things that creep on the ground

Exo 19:5-6

'And now, if you will diligently listen to me and keep my covenant, then you will be my special possession out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine, 6 and you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites.

1 Pet 1:15

but, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct.

1 John 3:13-18

Therefore do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have crossed over from death to life because we love our fellow Christians. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his fellow Christian is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. 16 We have come to know love by this: that Jesus laid down his life for us; thus we ought to lay down our lives for our fellow Christians. 17 But whoever has the world's possessions and sees his fellow Christian in need and shuts off his compassion against him, how can the love of God reside in such a person?

18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth.

Holiness

• Holiness not for judging others
• Failure to do good works is sufficient basis for condemnation
• Saved unto good works (Eph 2:10)
• Profession of faith should be accompanied by good works
• "Fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matt 3:8)